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Hope you guys will forgive this. I come from a Citroen origin in cars. Here's why. I had 3, and this tempts me! though can't afford them. Puts the cost of a LS into the bargain level though!

The magazine are very bias to German cars for some reason. The IS300H shares the drive way with our other car, a BMW 335i, tuned to roughly 380bhp, imported Sports catalytic converters, larger intercooler, Bespoke Bilstein suspension, Quaife LSD, and whole load of other performance parts thrown on. I do like to go on some B road blasts and when given the opportunity make full use of the BMWs power and if I'm really honest it could do with a bit more, and the throttle response could be a bit sharper.....I really wanted a M3 (but wife said no) hence I had to waste stupid £££ turning my 335i into a mini M3. But since the IS300H arrived last week, guess which car has been pretty much sat on the driveway un-moved . Though the IS300H cannot compete with the 335i for out-right pace/fun for 95% of the trips I do the IS300H is in a different league from the BMW. It's unbelievably quite...even at motorway speeds the engine is hardly audible, and the whole interior feels much higher quality and better put together. The IS300H doesn't have a CVT gear box, its a far more complex system of planetary gears which I suspect most car reviewers have no idea about. It is absolutely seamless in terms of 'gear changes' because there aren't any normal 'gears'. It takes you a little while to get use to, but once you've learnt it's nature its amazingly smooth. Interms of power...humm, the IS rated at 220bhp and weighs barely more than a 3 series, so how anyone can find overtaking in it 'dangerous' is beyond me, maybe it says more about their inability to survey the road ahead. Yes there is a small delay between mashing the accelerator and power deliver kicking in, but it's hardly dangerous, and if razor sharp throttle response if what your after than your need to be looking at something that has a NA V8 (like the old M3), because actually even my turbocharged BMW has throttle lag despite all the tuning bits(ie Turbo lag) :(. MPG wise, ours is too new to tell, currently averaging 43mpg for mainly city driving, the demo car we had managed a easy 50mpg over 24hrs of M-way and city routes. It's not better than a turbocharged diesel but the driving experience is leagues more refined than our old Honda diesel that use to drive me mad from it's clattering engine at idle. Don't believe the reviews, the only real criticism for the Lexus is the sat nav interface...The iDrive system in the BMW is much better...BUT all the FUNCTIONALITY is there, infact you get more as standard, it's only the actual user interface which takes getting use to. Again once you use it for a few days it becomes second nature. We had the Jag XF, Jag XE, and the Merc C class on our shopping list....The moment I was won over by the IS300H was when during a 24hr test drive we went to the local Jag dealership, and whilst looking at a XF another IS300H glided in total silence....a few minutes later a £60K XJ pulled up...clattering away like a tractor :eerrrmm:...why spend your hard earned cash on technology that belongs on a farm when you can have something that's pointing the way to the future

Pictures of the new beast after a polish, a bit scruffy and needs some work but this is what a good polish did. Looking forward to being a new owner as I love it so far.

Eff. Convertibles now fetch £150K!! As to comparisons with a Lex. After years away, circa 2006,whilst owning my Mk3 LS, I borrowed a DS23 to do a friend's wedding. Felt like a truck in comparison! Though the ride comfort was-of course!! - good. Doors clunked; steering felt heavy; was slow. Of course! It was 50s technology. I guess one would get acclimatised if you owned one, but a Lex is good/great even now at 20 years old! V8 versus 2.3 4cyl? But.....I'd love one! At least I have my memories. When I started my business (Cafe) not knowing if it'd work, I hoped I might get a good stereo and a DS23 before it folded. Had both within 3 years (cafe still going 35 years later!) Can recall vividly going around dark welsh roads with those lights swinging around the bends! And floating.......

Wonderful, Chris. Absolutely wonderful! Thank you for sharing this with us. Pepe

Nice to finally get this job and the Car seat fixed. Whilst its fresh in my mind, I will mention that tugging it just didn't free it, so I ended up using two of my numerous out of date plastic flexible friends to just create a gap between it and the Radio. Leaving about an inch from each side into which I put a screwdriver head and carefully levered and out it came, much to my relief. Repaired by removing (asbestos?) washer, put back together and checked continuity to see the centre was not touching the sides anywhere, and as they say jobs a good un. Did need to lever upward the inner positive grip part each side, as lighter was not clcking into lock position. Hey presto and the lighter jumped right out of the tray and onto the wood veneer. No damage, and won't be lighting anything but using for double USB. Mind you I could do with a nice Joya de Nicaragua Cigar right now to calm my nerves!

Sadly Lexus don't feel the need to bring out the IS350 in the UK.